AAalimat nafsun ma qaddamat waakhkharat (surah Infitar: 5)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(82:5) everyone shall know all his deeds, both the earlier and the later. *3

Alimat nafsum maa qaddamat wa akhkharat

*3) The words ma qaddamat wa akhkharat can have several meanings and all are implied here: (1) Ma qaddamat is the good or evil act which man has sent forward, and ma akhkharat is what he refrained from doing. Thus, these Arabic words correspond to the acts of commission and omission in one's life. (2) Ma qaddainat is what one did earlier and ma akhkharat what one did later; i.e. the whole life-work of man will appear before him date-wise and in proper sequence (3) Whatever good and evil deeds a man did in his life is ma qaddamat and whatever effects and influences of his acts he left behind for human society is ma akhkharat.